Brooke Bonilla, OD, has had an untraditional pathway to becoming an optometrist. She joined the Navy in 1997, at just 18 years old. Her parents couldn’t help with college tuition and encouraged her to find a trade. “I was seeking opportunities that my circumstances couldn’t provide me,” Dr. Bonilla recalls. The military seemed like the best way to achieve that. For four years, she served as an electrician on an aircraft carrier. She loved the troubleshooting component of the role. “I would show up with my tool bag, wrench, voltmeter and screwdriver, and I’d fix the problem and move on to the next one.”
She didn’t realize then how valuable that would be in her future career as an optometrist. “In both fields, we troubleshoot all day. What’s going to solve this patient’s problems? It’s not so different—just a different set of tools and challenges.”
After leaving the Navy, Dr. Bonilla continued working as an electrician on new construction sites. But as the projects ended and the work dried up, she began to contemplate a shift towards a career in health care. That would also get her out of the hot sun and a field that was dominated by men. A television ad for a pharmacy technician correspondence course sparked her interest. “It was the precursor of the online class,” she says, and she worked for a few years in that field.
GI BILL OPENS COLLEGE DOORS
Her husband encouraged her to use her GI Bill to go to college, even though she wasn’t sure what she wanted to study. She found her comfort zone in the sciences. “I loved it all. My goal became to work in a lab, maybe in molecular biology.” But her plans took another turn when she encountered physics, particularly the section on optics, mirrors, light, refraction, and reflection.
Dr. Bonilla says the professor stood in front of the room and told the students that “everyone fails the optics test—there’s a 68% average. But I aced it and got all the bonus questions right. He told me, ‘You have to be an optometrist. No one does that well.’ It was the easiest test I’d ever taken in his class.”
Her professor and the teaching assistant both offered to write letters of recommendation. At that point, the stars began to align. She excelled in anatomy and physiology, and the section of eyes intrigued her.
As part of an undergraduate capstone, students needed to complete a community service project. She chose to work with women in a prison facility, helping them with gardening projects. “It seemed so different from all the other choices,” she explains. Kitchen staff used the vegetables they could. The surplus was donated to women’s shelters. The experience with these projects, designed to reduce recidivism, left a lasting impression on her. “It was so impressive to see these women being given a chance to contribute and feel worthy.”
Another program at the prison involved inmates cleaning up donated eyeglasses, which went to storm victims and needy communities. “It was wonderful to be involved in something that combined my growing interest in optometry with giving back to the community,” she says.
THIRD CAREER: OPTOMETRY
Her decision to pursue optometry was solidified as she began exploring schools. In 2018, she graduated from Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California. She worked for a time in private practice but paused working during the pandemic. In 2022, she joined a Pearle Vision location in La Habra, California. She maintains a solid five-star patient rating. “It’s a reflection of how much I love what I do.”
On July 1, Dr. Bonilla took over the lease for the location where she had been working for two years. She is eager to make the location an attractive alternative for veterans, one of her favorite patient groups. “The VA hospital is an hour’s drive away, and there’s often a three-month waiting list for optometry services. The selection of eyewear is limited, too. That’s a lot of driving for an eye exam and then returning to pick up their eyewear.”
She and the franchise owner are discussing ways to ease the burden for these veterans through a discount on services and products. She’ll post a photo of herself from her days in the Navy alongside her professional doctor’s photo. “It’s about giving back to those who served, just like I did,” she says.
As Dr. Bonilla discovered her interest in optometry, guided by professors who called out her aptitude, she is delighted that the career has turned out to be everything she’s hoped for. It incorporates the troubleshooting skills she learned as a Navy electrician, the empathy she gained working with women in prisons and the knowledge and encouragement she received from optometry school professors and professional mentors.
Hear from Dr. Jill Saxon about how her time in the Navy prepared her for leadership throughout her career.
